Grocery delivery platform raises US$500m

Source: Xinhua | 2018-08-10

China’s leading online grocery delivery platform, Dada-JD Daojia, yesterday announced the completion of its latest round of financing, raising a total of US$500 million from Wal-Mart and JD.com as Internet companies step up efforts to connect with offline retail outlets.

“Dada-JD Daojia will deepen our partnership with leading retail partners and improve supply chain efficiency through technology upgrades following this new financing,” Dada-JD Daojia founder and CEO Philip Kuai said. “We will continue improving the user experience as we work to fulfil all the on-demand shopping needs of our customers.”

Currently it connects with 100,000 retail stores and it provides one-hour delivery of fresh fruit and vegetables, groceries, flowers, baked goods and pharmaceutical products to users in more than 40 cities.

Wal-Mart said it will invest a further US$320 million in Dada-JD Daojia, which is an extension of a US$50 million investment made in October 2016. Wal-Mart will raise its stake to 10 percent and will also hold a seat on the board.

Dada-JD Daojia’s partnership with Wal-Mart dates back to December 2016, when the two companies agreed to explore strategic opportunities in omni-channel e-commerce.

Over the past two years, Wal-Mart has made a remarkable breakthrough in online sales with JD Daojia. About 200 Wal-Mart stores in 30 cities are connected with JD Daojia’s delivery network.

China’s largest e-commerce group, Alibaba, is also stepping up efforts in the online-to-offline delivery realm.